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Texas
Texas, officially the Socialist American Republic of Texas,is a constitute state of the United Socialist American Republics. History The revolution in Texas is one of two parts: The Eastern half of the state on the border of Louisiana, and the West. This is mainly concerned with the East. As Babineux's WRML fight in Louisiana, the despotic Governor of Texas Dolph Briscoe initializes a statewide crackdown, particularly in Jefferson, Newton, and Orange counties. These areas have historically large influence of Cajun people, many of whom speak Cajun French as a primary or secondary language. Jefferson and Orange counties(forming the "Golden Triangle" of Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Orange) are historically hotbeds of union activities. As soldiers start coming home from Vietnam, many former US Marines are shocked when they disembark in California. Including one Les Rutlage who returns to his home in rural Jefferson County deeply concerned about how the American government is treating its people. His experience in Vietnam was as a mechanic and a general grunt, then he hears of the exploits of the WRML in neighboring Louisiana, where most of his family grew up. Taking initiative, Les joins the United Steel Workers and begins working at one of the plentiful petrochemical refineries in Port Arthur with his little brother, and closely follows the exploits of the WMRL. Then, at a meeting in late 1969, Texas State Troopers, sent by Briscoe, assault the meeting. Many of the Union Men, armed with little more than pipe wrenches and hammers, fight back against the government thugs, and Les and his brother Tom are arrested. Les later is released from prison, but Tom is nowhere to be found. A week later his body is dumped outside the union hall with a sign around his neck reading "This is what we do to communists in Texas." Les is enraged. The Catholic church where so often in his youth he served as an altar boy refuses to give his brother a Christian burial. This was the last straw. Rutlage and thirty other union men start their own militia, the Texas Workers Militia(TWM). This outrage warrants a response, and so, armed with M-1 Garand rifles and M-1 Carbines, old revolvers and hunting rifles, they plan to assault the police station in Port Arthur, which had been used as a staging area by the State Police in the attack on the Union Hall. January 1st 1970: The revolution begins At midnight, Les enters the police station with two cases of Miller and a carton of cigarettes. Under his coat is the Colt 1911 he took from the government armory when he left the Marines. As the cops start drinking and smoking, he draws his pistol and shoots the police chief in the back of the head. This was the signal, pouring through the door, ten members of the TWM kill thirty policemen, including six State Troopers, seize their weapons and ammunition, pin a note on the door, and leave. It read simply "Kill one of ours, and we'll kill five times as many. Revolution or die!" Repression and reprisals The police in Port Arthur react violently. The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office declares a state of martial law, sending armed men into nearby Groves, Port Neches, and Nederland. Here they harass refinery workers, Cajuns, and African Americans. In Beaumont, a group of student demonstrators at Lamar University are gunned down by local sheriffs deputies with Tommy guns when they refuse to leave the quad. Les and the poorly armed TWM are almost powerless to respond, living many nights on the run, and often crossing the border to avoid detection. He reaches out to Babineaux's WRML, and is given a crate of M2 ball, some hand grenades, K-rations, and the promise that aid will come for him soon. A student group, called the Lamar Revolutionary Union(LRU for short) reaches out to Les and offers assistance. Les is loathe to put the armed struggle into the hands of such innocents, but eventually agrees. The TWM and the LRU attack Les and a student called Justin Prejean plan an attack of revenge on the sheriff's department as an act of revenge, and in June of 1970, the date is set. At noon on June 5th, the courthouse is wracked with multiple explosions near where the sheriff's office is located. As deputies come pouring out, covered in asbestos and soot, they are met by the combined force, totaling five hundred. They are disarmed, and the two deputies who sprayed the students with .45 caliber bullets are executed on the courthouse lawn. More guns are seized, and this time a statement is read by Prejean: Fellow Texans, the time has come to rise up in the name of liberty and justice for all! No more shall the working people of this state be treated as slaves by the rich. Never again shall our people be harmed. We hereby establish the Golden Triangle Republic. Our new nation stands in solidarity with the U.S.A.R. and the revolution in Louisiana. We will never, ever surrender! With that, the Golden Triangle Republic was born. Union members, students, and the proletarians of Southeast Texas seem to rise with one voice. The new Port Arthur Black Militia(PABM), led by Bessie Jackson, a black feminist, recruits hundreds of African Americans from across the Golden Triangle. Together with the TWM and the LUR, they form the new Armed Forces of the GTR. First Battle of Beaumont Governor Briscoe, in his manse in Austin is shocked. Southeast Texas was supposedly kept well in hand, but now he finds this not to be true. He summons the national guard to march immediately upon Beaumont and restore order. By December of 1970, the Texas National Guard sits on the border of Jefferson county, some 15,000 strong, and prepares to invade. Les, now Acting Captain-General of the GTR Army, calls for volunteers. From Orange, Port Arthur, and Beaumont, seven thousand men and women, some barely above the age of sixteen, join forces. Every Western Auto, Pawn Shop, and sporting goods store is raided for arms and ammunition. The rag-tag army prepares to defend the new capitol, while the newly commissioned GTR Brown Water Navy(a group of majority black and Cajun shrimpers), patrol the Port of Port Arthur, the Neches River, and Sabine Lake. On Christmas Eve of 1970, the Texas National Guard attacks. As the first infantry units cross the border into unincorporated Jefferson County they are fired upon, and return fire for a time. More probing attacks follow, and soon, the bulk of the TNG force their way past the militia. The GTR Army falls back to the city of Beaumont Proper, hoping to hold the new capitol against the advance. December 25th to the 31st, the attack continues with heavy losses on both sides. Civilian casualties mount as Les attempts to evacuate the city, and Beaumont's civilians flee to the safety of Port Arthur. The port falls first, as the dockworkers are taken unaware by scabs in their midst, who massacre them en-masse while on watch. Next is the city hall and county courthouse, which is surrounded by the Texas National Guard and falls. Lamar University, then Lamar Technical College, is the only bastion left. It forms a salient now, the reinforced lines on the city limits hold at last, and the Texas National Guard falters. The GTR continues this way until 1973, when the Babineaux and the WRML, in force with the GTR Army, return to Beaumont triumphantly.Category:SARs